Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge

Background

The bridge's arches consist of 122 hollow box segments precast in nearby Franklin, each about 9.8 feet long and weighing between 29 and 45 short tons. The deck is made of 196 precast post-tensioned trapezoidal box girder segments, typically 8.5 feet long, with sections atop the arch crown 13 feet deep. Foundations and piers were cast in place. The main span is symmetrical at 582 feet, while the 462-foot second arch is asymmetrical due to the valley slope at the southern end.

The bridge lacks spandrel columns, concentrating weight at the arch crown, giving it a clean appearance termed a cathedral arch bridge. Figg Engineering Group designed it, and PCL Civil Constructors Inc. built it using a balanced cantilever method. Temporary cable stays anchored from pier tops and valley sides supported each arch during construction, avoiding conventional shoring towers to minimize environmental damage. The bridge cost US$11.3 million and was completed in October 1993, opening March 22, 1994.

It received a Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995, an Award of Merit from the Federal Highway Administration in 1996, and was named the single most outstanding achievement in the bridge industry for 1994 by the Eleventh International Bridge Conference. The bridge appears on the cover of Newsboys' 2004 album Devotion.

Suicide barrier installation

The Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge saw 42 suicides between 2000 and 2022. Warning signs went up in 2011, but the deaths did not stop.

In September 2018, the Natchez Trace Bridge Barrier Coalition formed to push for a physical barrier with federal officials and the National Park Service. On August 16, 2022, chain-link and barbed wire was added to both sides, raising the original 32-inch railing. The bridge closed to all traffic on April 15, 2026, for installation of a permanent pedestrian safety barrier, with reopening scheduled for early 2027.